Xonotic is a fast-paced arena-style first-person shooter for Windows, Linux and Mac. The program is also open-source, surprisingly-- the graphics and features already outperform some commercial products.

The game is convenient to play as there's no setup required. Just unzip the 945MB archive, run xonotic.exe and it fires up within seconds.

Xonontic can take a while to master. It has nine core weapons, 16 full weapons, each with their own primary and secondary fire modes and all useful in specific situations. And although you might think you'll have time to experiment, the gameplay is so fast that you'll have plenty to do in just staying alive.

Fortunately, there's a simple single-player mode available where you can practice with some bots. Once you're ready, go online and you can play against others in 25 official maps or dozens of community offerings (including Nexuiz and conversions from Quake 3), with a huge range of game modes - Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Clan Arena, more - to add variety.

Built-in player stats are on hand to track your progress. When you're confident of your skills, you might record games to show others later. And there are a host of other tools and features, ranging from a customisable heads-up display to a "spectator mode" and a smart anticheat system.

Verdict:

A nicely presented shooter with polished graphics, an array of features, an active community and regular program updates to keep them engaged.

Spotlight: Free Full Software

WhatsApp Messenger is the world's most popular instant messaging app for smartphones.

You can use it to send and receive text and voice messages, photos, videos, even call your friends in other countries, and because it uses your phone's internet connection it might not cost you anything at all (depending on whether you'll pay data charges).

It's easy to set up and use. There's no need to create and remember new account names or pins because it works with your phone number, and uses your regular address book to find and connect you with friends who use WhatsApp already.

You can talk one-to-one or in group chats, and because you're always logged in there's no way to miss messages. Even if your phone is turned off, WhatsApp will save your messages and display them as soon as you're back online.

There's plenty more (location sharing, contact exchange, message broadcasting) and the app is free for a year, currently $0.99/ year afterwards.